“Go to where the light is” may seem a strange directive for someone seeking to escape from a totalitarian regime until one sees a photo of North Korea and its neighbors taken from a satellite. Yeonmi Park’s tale of her escape reveals that not only is the darkness physical, but spiritual as well.

Alice had to step through the looking glass to discover a strange world where everything was backwards and made no sense. Filmmaker Kevin Bowe only had to go to New Hampshire during the 2015 presidential primary. His film, Democracy Through the Looking Glass: Media & Politics in the Post-Truth Era, screened at the Anthem Film Festival, part of FreedomFest. FreedomFest, a libertarian political and financial conference, now in its tenth year, bills itself as the worlds “largest gathering of free minds."

Slavery has become more subtle and is not just something that happens far away in third world countries. 'The Return' takes us into the world of a Filipino house maid held captive for years by an upper class family in Orange County, California.

Ancient Greek philosopher Plato put in a couple of appearances at the Anthem Film Festival in Las Vegas, July 8-11. Two of the short films showed influence, if not direct inspiration, by Plato's tale of the cave, written 2,500 years ago. The films, 'The Cage' and 'Helio' both deserve praise for supporting the human quest for freedom and individualism. Cinematically, 'Helio' was a winner and 'The Cage' was not.